OCIP Update — Phase 1 Open Sign Ups and Phase 2 Bidding

1. Both OCIP sessions — Phase 1 and Phase 2 — are now “live” on the b-Line, so be mindful of which session you are in when you are viewing employers (and when entering your conflicts). You navigate back and forth between sessions via the session search filter box on the OCI homepage.

2. Remember to enter your conflicts for Phase 2 dates. If you need to change or delete an existing conflict because you’ve dropped a class or for some other reason, you can do so by clicking on the blue shaded area that represents the conflict on the b-line conflict entry calendar and selecting “delete.”

3. In reviewing the Phase 1 schedules, we noticed openings for several excellent firms in NY, LA and also in other cities like Seattle, Sacramento, Irvine, Palo Alto, Boston and Chicago.

Even if you received 15 interviews as a result of bidding, you don’t have to limit yourself to just those 15, especially if you feel uncertain about your interviewing skills, have limited work experience or did not do as well academically as you would have liked. People who fit this profile have found some success in interviewing broadly, in large legal markets like LA and NY, and in smaller regional markets as well.

So, if you think you can benefit from interviewing broadly and think you can do so consistent with the demands of your course load, consider signing up for additional interviews.

NOTE: It’s possible that an employer with open slots may be one on which you bid unsuccessfully. That could have happened because: either you reached your maximum of 15 interviews before b-Line got to your bid, or the open time slots conflicted with your class schedule (or some other conflict you entered), or the allocation that the employer requested for your class year may have been reached (especially for 3Ls). In any case, you are free to sign up for any open slot on the schedules regardless of their requested allocation.

OPEN SIGN-UPS PROCESS:

To determine whether an employer’s schedule contains open time slots, review the “Available Dates” column on the employer list in the OCI section of b-Line (be sure you have selected Phase 1 as the session in the search field). For employers with available time slots, the date in that column will be enclosed in a box and have the appearance of a button. (Employers whose schedules are full will not have a “clickable” button in the Available Dates column.) Click on the date button to review the available times and sign up for a slot.

Do not sign up for an open slot with an employer whose permitted hiring prerequisites you do not meet.

If you are already on a schedule of a multiple office firm that requires that you interview only once for a firm, b-Line will not allow you to sign up for a second interview slot. You put both interviews at risk if you attempt to do so.

New open slots will be created whenever a student cancels an interview. Cancellations occur in real time. Accordingly, if you are interested in a particular employer, you should check the employer’s schedule regularly because slots may open up at any time during the permissible cancellation period.At the time you sign up for an open slot, you will be able to specify which uploaded version of your resume you want to make available to the employer. If you do not select a version, b-Line will allow your “default” version to be viewed and downloaded by this employer.